The HLWW School Board will be asking voters to approve an Operating Levy of $600 per pupil, tied to the rate of inflation for the next 10 years.
We are all about growing a school district that can compete with any other.
- Allocate resources to properly maintain facilities and equipment
- Attract and retain quality staff
- Attract and retain students/families
- Stabilize finances by more appropriately funding the district’s fund balance to
support unanticipated expenses throughout the school year
- Keep class sizes low
- Update and enhance classroom resources and curriculum used for learning
- Community-based strategic planning process
- Long-term opportunities with new leadership, a new approach, and new possibilities
- Enhance career training pathways to better prepare students for post-graduation
What if the referendum is not approved?
If the operating levy is not approved, we will be forced to undertake further and more drastic budget cuts. Even with those cuts we do not believe we can make enough budget reductions to solve our financial challenges as the size and scope of our unfunded and underfunded mandated programs won’t allow us to balance our budget using cuts alone. The nature of the budget cuts we would make this year would result in larger class sizes, reduced aid for students needing additional support and elimination of some in-school and out of school opportunities for students
Example: Cutting ALL extracurricular activities would not solve the problem
As an example, our projected deficit in 2026-2027 is $611,000. If we eliminated all extracurricular activities, football, volleyball, Knowledge Bowl, FFA, plays, speech, and 25 other activities, plus support staff like coaches and the activities director, we would save $694,000. But it wouldn’t eliminate the deficit because we would no longer have the $203,000 in revenue generated through activities fees and ticket sales.
If the operating levy is not approved, we will be forced to undertake further and more drastic budget cuts. Even with those cuts we do not believe we can make enough budget reductions to solve our financial challenges as the size and scope of our unfunded and underfunded mandated programs won’t allow us to balance our budget using cuts alone. The nature of the budget cuts we would make this year would result in larger class sizes, reduced aid for students needing additional support and elimination of some in-school and out of school opportunities for students
Example: Cutting ALL extracurricular activities would not solve the problem
As an example, our projected deficit in 2026-2027 is $611,000. If we eliminated all extracurricular activities, football, volleyball, Knowledge Bowl, FFA, plays, speech, and 25 other activities, plus support staff like coaches and the activities director, we would save $694,000. But it wouldn’t eliminate the deficit because we would no longer have the $203,000 in revenue generated through activities fees and ticket sales.
